ATEEZ THE FELLOWSHIP: BREAK THE WALL

GALA students Mira and Jade recently went to an ATEEZ concert held on November 7, 2022. The following is a rundown of their concert preparation process, their favorite songs, some key points of the concert, and how they felt afterward.

Mira: I had seats in section 212 in the third row. My concert prep was very scattered, probably mostly due to the fact that I’m a senior in high school and I have tons of things going on. I shopped for a very long time for an outfit and came up with something that I thought was cute but simple and that fit the theme of their second most recent album. My friends and I discussed matching our outfits to an album since that’s usually what we do.

Jade: I thought about two previous outfit choices I had and eventually went with my last one, which was Seonghwa’s outfit from The Real music video. It took me about a week to just find everything.

Mira: In terms of getting there, my friends and I arrived 30 minutes before the show started on my end. This is not usual, but we had some problems with tickets, so we were running around trying to figure things out. Luckily, they delayed opening the doors 30 minutes, so we were able to get in perfectly on time, and then we went up two flights of stairs and went and found our seats.

Jade: I had to get there at about 8 but I ended up getting there at around 9. Once in line, I had to get my numbered wristband, I ended up being number 1090. I’m pretty sure the numbers started out around the 600 to 700s, but my place in line wasn’t too bad. Once it was time to get back in line around 2:00 to 4:30 pm, they ended up delaying our entrance by about 2 hours. I’m pretty sure most of us Atinys got a cold from standing so long in the cold which was promptly followed with rain. In order to actually get into the sound check, we had to line up in number order, then once we finally got in, I was good to go. Once I got inside I ran down to the floor/general admission area and was able to get super up close behind two people from the barricade. The soundcheck totaled to only three songs because of the delay but it was still really good.

Mira: I, on the other hand, was definitely not there for sound check. We got there and sat down in our seats and about five minutes later the opening act came out. We also did not really have a chance to talk to other fans or meet people. Usually, we would get freebies at events like this, but in this case, we didn’t happen to get that because we didn’t really have a chance to talk to anyone.

Jade: I luckily got to talk to some really nice Atiny. They were able to help me save my spot whenever I had to go to the restroom or momentarily leave to meet up with my friend. So I thought that was really nice. I had also made a poster the night before and they also helped me to hold up the poster and record videos so I was definitely really appreciative of them.

Mira: And I think this is something that’s very common at Kpop concerts. I usually go with one or two friends and leave with four or five. But no matter what group or what fandom it is, it’s usually a very friendly community and they tend to want to talk to you and they want to know who your biases are and all those kinds of things.

Jade: The actual concert started at around 8:30 pm. Their opener was KQ Entertainment’s new pre-debut group KQ Fellaz 2. They will be going on tour with Ateez for the rest of their tour as their opener. The songs they performed were Geek and CANVAS, which they helped produce themselves. I was really a big fan of Geek even before they performed it at the concert but seeing it in person really made me realize how talented they are and how awesome their choreography is. And I didn’t even know that KQ Fellaz 2 had come out with CANVAS until I heard it at the concert, so I thought that was really cool and overall a nice experience not only for me but, also for the members as it was their first time performing on stage in front of so many people.

Mira: I had seen that KQ Fellows was opening for them and was very excited. We sat down and they came out less than five minutes after. They were absolutely incredible. I also just think it’s another way to point out how welcoming and friendly Atiny is because they haven’t debuted yet, but the cheers coming from the crowd were almost as loud as if it was the main group that we paid to see.

Setlist: INTRO: New World, Answer, Sector 1, The Ring, Hala Hala, Dazzling Light, Mist, Sunrise, My Way, Illusion, Wave, Win, Horizon, Say My Name, Cyberpunk, Fireworks(HEAT-TOPPING ver.), Rocky, Wonderland, Guerrilla, Turbulence, Celebrate, The Real, From(remix ver.)

Jade: Once Ateez started performing Mist I immediately started getting so emotional. I think it’s one of my favorites that they performed. It’s just overall really comforting and very…. What’s the word? Encouraging.

Mira: Yeah. No, I definitely agree with that. It’s just one of those songs that I think everyone can relate to with one song or another that just comforts you and it makes you feel happy. It’s generally something I listen to because music affects me very strongly, like the emotions in music affect my emotions very heavily. So I know that for me, this song is listened to a lot when I’m upset or struggling with something. And it’s not a song that they do live very frequently and they don’t have a music video for it either. So after listening to it and watching live performances on YouTube, seeing it live in front of my face was a very emotional experience for me. I also shed some tears.

Jade: And their Guerrilla performance just brought so much energy that made everyone feel free to scream to their heart’s content. Everyone somehow knew the lyrics and it was just an adrenaline and serotonin boost. I loved it so much.

Mira: There’s really just kind of something that comes over you at a Kpop concert where even if you don’t speak Korean, you somehow know every lyric to every song. I even found myself struggling to sing the songs that were in English but not the ones that were in Korean. So I think that’s something that’s just very interesting to think about. And one thing that’s kind of special to Kpop concerts, that I haven’t really noticed with any other types of concerts that I’ve been to, is that they section their songs into parts and in between those sections they have like a five to ten-minute portion were the members are just kind of talking and asking the crowd questions. It’s really nice and responsive and it definitely gives you a strong feeling that you’re able to tell them things and ask questions and that they’ll respond with funny remarks which makes it that much more of a fun experience. This time it was particularly special because it was one of the member’s birthdays. It was Hongjoong’s birthday and so a lot of those talking portions were surrounded by fans singing “Happy Birthday” or wishing him congratulations and even on his end emotional moments, saying that he was very happy to be doing this with Atiny for his birthday as his thing for the day.

Jade: Yeah! Regarding engaging with the audience, Wooyoung actually saw someone in the audience motioning their hands to smash Hongjoong’s face into the birthday cake.

Mira: Wooyoung really let the intrusive thoughts win?

Jade: Definitely…Hongjoong asked Atiny, “Are you really an Atiny?” As a joke. But eventually, Wooyoung did take that Atiny’s suggestion and smashed Hongjong’s face into the cake. He had gone backstage to see if the makeup artists could do anything to help him clean his face and fix his makeup but once he came back out, he told us that the stylists were speechless and told him that there was nothing they could do. It was a good time for all of us. We really enjoyed having a funny interlude between songs.

Mira: One of the songs that they performed was a song called Say My Name. And recently, that song has indulged in some controversy.

Jade: Yes, there was some plagiarism in the song. Someone had copied the main choreography and claimed it as their own which got Atiny’s and many more Kpop fans talking about it after Ateez member Wooyoung did a common dance move called biting, which dancers use to call out stolen choreography. Because of that controversy, the song was able to get more recognition and they’ve been performing it a lot more.

Mira: And this tour is actually their second tour of the year. They were also on tour back in January of 2022. We both also happened to go see that concert, which is very funny because we didn’t know that we were both there at the same time. But it’s actually so interesting to see the difference between this concert now in November of 2022 as opposed to January. Some of the key things that I noticed were obviously the setlist was a little different because they’ve come out with an album since that previous concert, but also just their confidence in this. And they were going absolutely ham. Not that they didn’t put so much effort into the previous concert, but this concert specifically, I noticed a lot of energy and joy and real, true thankfulness to be there and be performing. Additionally, none of the members are 100% fluent in English, but the absolute jump in skill between January and now is so jarring in the best way possible. They spoke solely in English so that most of the crowd could understand the entire concert. And they articulated themselves very well, it was very impressive.

Jade: I also noticed that their set and stage were set up so much differently. They didn’t have as many props in January as they did now, which I thought was insane. I didn’t expect to see a whole ship on stage. Earlier this year, I’m pretty sure they had fewer backup dancers and it was mostly just them on stage. They didn’t really have anything else. And I think because of their increase in popularity this year, they were really able to raise more money and just put on a bigger show.

Mira: Yeah. Last time it felt a little bit calmer, more contained, and intimate. This one was definitely a performance above anything else.

Jade: After the concert had ended, there was A LOT of confetti on the floor, so I immediately started picking it up as a little souvenir. The staff working there had told us that they were going to blow confetti before, during, and towards the end of the concert, which they did. And yeah, I just wanted to collect something to remember this really special day, especially since it was my first time being a VIP and being very close to the stage.

Mira: And up on the balcony, once they finished saying all their goodbye messages and everything like that, we exited rather quickly due to the fact we had to go down all the stairs and get out. And in this process, we were trying to beat as much of the crowd as we could. And then Jade was nice enough to give me some of the confetti that was collected after the concert. But additionally, there’s definitely the post-concert drop which didn’t hit me until the next day. Because, immediately when we got home, it was about 1:30 in the morning. And so it was about time to get ready for bed and just sleep because we had school the next day. But then the day after was more joyous than usual, I think, just because I had such an amazing, amazing time. So my friends and I just discussed the concert. Jade and I discussed the concert. We talked about our favorite moments and things that made us laugh and things that made us happy. And then that night, it really hit me hard that it’s all over. I’m very sad, but for me, that’s usually mitigated by looking at my posters and listening to their music, and watching videos from the concert to remind myself of how fun it was instead of being upset that it’s over.

Jade: That was also very similar to how I felt the post-concert depression hit. I think it hit about two days later. So it hit harder than I thought it would. I don’t really know how to describe it, but I was able to really take in all of the emotions that they put on stage and that carried me throughout those two days. It, in a way, got me through the school day happily and with ease even though typically that wouldn’t be the case on a regular school day or just days in general.

Mira: And once it kind of dropped out of it, I got very emotional, which I think is due to the insane amount of interaction that you had with the artists more than me. This is probably why your drop was a little more severe than mine. And honestly, it was, I think, the best concert I’ve ever been to and I’m very thankful that I was able to go.

Jade: I agree, I think even though they had that really long delay, they were still really prepared to put on a show. I could tell that that delay didn’t hold them back and it wasn’t because they weren’t ready to perform. It’s like they were more than ready but there were probably some technical issues going on.

Mira: I think one of the best things about the experience is just watching videos and looking at pictures. And also one thing that’s so amazing is that the community is so large and so if you go on social media, you can interact with others who went to the same show you did and discuss with them and see their videos that might be a little bit different from your perspective. This was also one thing that’s been very interesting, talking to Jade about it because her videos are very different from mine from the floor versus the balcony.

Jade: Definitely!! I am so thankful that others were open to sharing their videos with me because when I got that interaction between the members and me, I was super shaken up. So my video quality was terrible. The audio was terrible, my hands were shaking and I was holding up a poster. So thankfully the Atinys next to me were very kind and I was able to get their phone numbers and we were able to exchange videos and photos of the concert with each other.

Mira: And I think that the wonderful thing about these concerts is how we get to interact and remember and enjoy all the memories.

Jade: Yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to the next one.

Mira: Same here.